


between the lines

by cubedmango



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor, Post-Episode: s01e19 Young Blood Old Souls, alright im writing more so its now a slightly longer sweet thing, just a short sweet thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26233009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cubedmango/pseuds/cubedmango
Summary: The witch would be lying if she said she wasn’t especially worried about Luz. The girl had apparently not returned to the school after their field trip, and Willow and Augustus had filled Amity in about their little attempted heist at the castle, and how that had ended. Then, there was the whole thing at the Conformatorium. The group had made an escape, but since then there’s been no news on them.Luz still hadn’t been back to school. Amity’s foot had healed enough for her to return to attendance, but the human had not shown up once in the whole week that Amity was there. It was enough to worry the Principal, who had ended up entrusting Amity to deliver Luz’s pending homework to her personally. Why her, specifically, she doesn’t know, but she’s willing to take it as the excuse it is to go check up on her friend and ease her worries. Maybe.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 37
Kudos: 718





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> classes were astronomically boring today so i wrote this in a few hours. enjoy

_Knock, knock_.

Amity gently raps the door of the Owl House, adjusting her grip on the bundle of papers in her other hand. Hooty is fast asleep, undisturbed by her presence, which she is very grateful for—she doesn’t want a repeat of what happened _that_ time. There isn’t much noise from the inside, which is odd, but she thinks little of it. The three members of the house had gone through a lot in a few days, so it's understandable if they’re running on low energy.

The witch would be lying if she said she wasn’t especially worried about Luz. The girl had apparently not returned to the school after their field trip, and Willow and Augustus had filled Amity in about their little attempted heist at the castle, and how that had ended. Thinking of her mentor—or even looking at that poster in her room—was enough to start leaving a sour taste in her mouth. Then, there was the whole thing at the Conformatorium, that she only saw through the broadcast keenly but unclearly. The group had made an escape, mounted on Eda’s back, but since then there’s been no news on them.

Luz still hadn’t been back to school. Amity’s foot had healed enough for her to return to attendance, but the human had not shown up once in the whole week that Amity was there. It was enough to worry the Principal, who had ended up entrusting Amity to deliver Luz’s pending homework to her personally. Why her, specifically, she doesn’t know, but she’s willing to take it as the excuse it is to go check up on her friend and ease her worries. Maybe.

When a few seconds go by without any movement at the door, Amity raises her arm again to knock, only to be stopped mid-action when the entrance bursts open suddenly, revealing an energetic Luz.

“Amity!” she exclaims, and pulls the witch into a swift yet warm hug. Amity stiffens, blushing slightly but unable to return the hug—with both her hands being occupied with a crutch and Luz’s homework. After she lets go, Luz smiles brightly. “I’m so happy to see you. You won’t believe what’s happened— wait, how come you’re here, though?” Then, her expression turns panicked. She grabs Amity by the shoulders worriedly. “Don’t tell me the Emperor sent you to take us in again? I’m not going back there, no way. You have to tell him we’re not here— you’ll do that, right?”

“Relax, it’s nothing like that,” she tells Luz, trying subtly to step away from her monster grip, and the tiny, tiny distance between them. Amity coughs, and brings the stack of papers into Luz’s view, “Principal Bump wanted me to give you your homework for the last week, so, here.”

Luz takes the bundle, studies the page at the top of the pile—neatly titled _Basics to Potions: Graded Assignment_ —and grimaces. “Oh. I kind of forgot these existed, honestly.” She turns back to Amity with a grin. “Thanks for coming all the way here to give me these, though. And for not working for that weirdo.”

“Of course, anytime,” Amity smiles back, taking a few steps away. “Uh, I’ll see you later, then, I guess—”

“Wait, do you wanna come in?” Luz interrupts, “I mean, if you’re not busy, of course.”

Amity blinks. She doesn’t have much to do, besides lie on her bed at home, curse Boscha (not literally) for giving her this injury, and reread the 5th Azura book until her eyes physically can’t stay open anymore. Not that she dislikes that routine, but it would be fun to change it up, for no specific reason. “No, I’m not busy.”

“Great! I wanted to show you this really cool thing Eda made me. I think you’ll like it,” Luz says, grabbing Amity’s free hand suddenly and guiding her inside. Amity does everything in her power to not squeak, or flush, or show any reaction, and luckily manages to do that when she notices the scene in the living room.

Eda—looking more like her usual self, but with a grey eye?— and King are seated on the couch, holding Luz’s weird human rectangle thing, giggling to themselves as they point it towards a figure who’s facing away from Amity, but one she’d recognise any day.

The person turns around to check who’s entered, presumably, and all the anger that’s been bubbling in Amity’s chest over the days fades into nothing as she sees her mentor wearing ridiculous glasses and a shirt proclaiming _30 & Flirty ♥ _ in bright, hot pink cursive.

“Oh,” says Lilith, her face turning even more red than it was a second ago. “Amity.”

She struggles to maintain eye contact. “Ma’am.”

“ _Right_ , I totally forgot to mention,” Luz jumps in, “Lilith helped Eda with the curse and went against the Emperor and the whole coven and stuff, so she’s kinda living with us too now.”

Amity continues to stare in confusion. Luz waves her hands in the air oddly. “Ta-da.”

“Kid, you live in a mansion, right? Take her back with you, please.” Eda says, swiping at the tiny box’s screen, “If I have to hear her snore from the other room for even _one more night_ , I will genuinely strangle her.”

“I do not _snore_ ,” Lilith squawks.

“Yes, you do, sister.” the owl witch leers back. “Very loudly.”

King pipes in, “Can confirm. It’s really been disturbing my beauty demon sleep lately.”

Her mentor looks like she wants nothing more than to burst into flames. And she just might—Amity wouldn’t even blame her.

“Hey, if it’s any consolation, I don’t hear you snore at all.” Luz says, and then mutters to herself, “Though, it’s probably because I’m used to my mom snoring...”

“ _Sister?_ ” Amity stage whispers to her friend, though it ends up sounding more like a restrained yell. From the corner of her eye, she can see Lilith hide her face in her hands and Eda chuckle at her outburst.

Luz tilts her head. “Yeah, didn’t you know?”

She shakes her head incredulously. Was she _supposed_ to know? Why didn’t anyone tell her?

“Oh, well, now you know, so it’s fine,” Luz says simply, leading her to the stairs and towards her room, “Come on, I’ll show you the cape, and then I’ll explain everything.”

Amity sighs, but her lips quirk up not even a second later. “Fine, but I want all the details.”

* * *

The evening goes by so quick it actually surprises Amity. Luz started off by showing her the cape Eda wove for her, then that shifted the conversation to the whole story of the two sisters and what all had happened at the Emperor’s castle. Somehow, they reached the topic of Grudgby (it’s hard to believe both Eda _and_ Lilith were players in their school days), and then about the school, then Willow’s latest plant creations, then the library, and Azura (Luz handed her a copy of her latest story, which she silently vowed to read many, many times), and before she knew it, the sun was setting and she had to start heading back home.

“Thanks for stopping by, Amity,” Luz tells her, as the witch collects her things and adjusts her crutch at the doorstep. “Today was really fun.”

“Yeah?” Amity rubs her neck shyly. “I had fun too.”

Luz grins at that. “I’ll be at school from tomorrow, so you don’t have to carry my homework back there,” she says, “When’s it all due, again?”

Amity shrugs. “Next week, most of them.”

Luz’s face falls comically fast, and it actually makes her giggle. Her friend clasps her hands together and makes a pleading face. “You’ll help me, right?”

“Hmm, I don’t know.”

“Please, _mittens_?” she says, only barely dodging Amity’s instinctive fist. She wasn’t going to actually punch her, of course, but that has nothing to do with the fact that she doesn’t mind that childish nickname as much when Luz uses it. “I gave you my fanfic, it’s only fair.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” Amity yields, “But I’ll only help at the library, not here.”

Luz raises an eyebrow.

“It’s… you know,” she mumbles, “Lilith’s right there, it’s embarrassing…”

“Right, former mentor-protégé stuff,” Luz replies, “Okay, the library, then, but only in your secret hideaway.”

She groans, “ _Fine_. Tomorrow, after school, don’t be late.”

“Yessir!”

Amity’s pretty sure that’s some kind of human phrase flying entirely over her head, but she ignores it and opts for giving Luz a meek wave. “Bye.”

“Bye,” she echoes, with a soft smile.

Amity turns around and walks away, letting out a deep breath once she's trekked back far enough into the city. Her stomach flutters in a way that’s now all-too-familiar to her, but not in a bad way like it was during Grom. She runs her thumb over the cover of Luz’s book, looking fondly at the little note in the corner of it that reads: _Special cameo, just for you! -Luz._

She clutches the papers close to her, and doesn’t stop smiling the entire way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! i love comments and feedback (or even just people pointing out my typos) so leave those if u wanna :0
> 
> e: would anyone be interested in reading a continuation of this? i have a few ideas that i could write to keep the fic going. let me know if thats something ud like!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz thinks that if she chews on her pencil for even a second more, it’ll instantly turn into sawdust. She’d gone through most of the assignments last time, but keeping the hardest for last meant she’d keep getting metaphorically punched by unsolvable questions one after the other.
> 
> Right now, she’s peering at a worksheet for Abominations class. On the paper are several questions concerning the biology of the constructs. So far, all she’s written is a measly ‘the’, and that was five minutes ago.
> 
> Amity has her nose deep in some kind of magazine. She looks really invested, and Luz doesn’t want to interrupt her, but apparently she makes some kind of indication of her distress, because in a split second Amity’s focus is all on her instead. “Having trouble?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm continuing this! maybe a chapter or two to finish off.
> 
> first time posting multichapter stuff, hope i dont fuck up lol

Luz fumbles down the stairs, wrestling with her bag as it refuses to hold her giant pile of homework in. Her phone remains nowhere to be seen, though she was sure she’d kept it next to her last night as her alarm. She frowns as she enters the kitchen, where Eda is assembling some kind of concoction in a pot, and King is laying under the only strip of sunlight in the room, probably napping. Lilith is mysteriously absent.

“Why didn’t anyone wake me up?” she asks, grabbing the most edible looking thing from the fridge. “And have you seen my phone?”

“ _Nope_.” Eda waves her hand dismissively. “It’s an off-day, you should be sleeping in. Where are you headed, anyway?”

Luz sighs, “I _told_ you, I have to study with Amity again today.”

“Right, study, right,” she mumbles, “Well, you’re up now, so there’s still time.”

Luz looks at what she’s grabbed—some kind of raw meat—and puts it back in the fridge. She’ll get something to eat later, right now she has to _go_. She jogs backwards towards the door and silently waves Eda goodbye in the process.

“Wait, wait, before you go,” Eda says suddenly, “Can you hand me one of those fire glyphs? I can’t be bothered to make my own.”

“ _No_ , Eda,” Luz pouts, “If you want to learn them, then you have to practice, remember?”

Eda gives her a blank stare for a few seconds, before giving in and groaning, “Ugh, _okay._ Now, shoo. I have to finish this quick if I wanna— aw, dangit.”

Lilith steps in from behind Luz, looking tired to her bones, wearing today’s unique shirt of the day: _Bad Girl Coven_ edition. She wordlessly grabs a cup and begins preparing herself some apple blood (yeesh, she still can’t believe that’s a thing). Eda turns to her pot, gazing into it as though it’s the most interesting thing in the world. King does a roll mid-sleep.

“Lily, what a surprise!” Eda says, “Up before lunch, that’s impressive.”

“Oh, shut it, sister,” Lilith flings back. A couple of sips later, she finally seems to take in her surroundings properly. “Oh, Luz. Hello.”

“Good morning!” Luz greets, “Nice shirt.”

She looks down, her face immediately contorting in disgust. “Titans, don’t remind me,” she glares at her sister. “Can’t you give me a _single_ more appropriate piece of clothing?”

“Hey, a deal’s a deal. You live in my house, you wear the shirts I say you can wear,” Eda declares, “Besides, what are you gonna do if I keep making you wear these? Curse me?”

A prolonged, weirdly awkward beat of silence catches the room. Luz looks at the scene for a few seconds, before her feet start sliding back and she’s already halfway through the door. “ _Anyways_ , I’ll be back in a few hours! Play nice, you two.”

Eda gives her a mischievous grin. Lilith squints her eyes in confusion. Just before she closes the front door, a thin stem of plant, wrapped around her phone, grows towards her. Bright yellow flowers are scattered here and there—definitely Eda’s handiwork. Luz grabs her device with a smile, and starts heading towards her destination for the day: the library.

* * *

Luz thinks that if she chews on her pencil for even a second more, it’ll instantly turn into sawdust. She’d gone through most of the assignments last time, but keeping the hardest for last meant she’d keep getting metaphorically punched by unsolvable questions one after the other.

Right now, she’s peering at a worksheet for Abominations class. On the paper are several questions concerning the biology of the constructs, with the one stumping Luz being: _Describe, in detail, any three kinds of organic matter that can be used for the creation of Abominations._ So far, all she’s written is a measly ‘the’, and that was five minutes ago. Oddly, the strategy of glaring at the paper until the answer comes to her doesn’t seem to be working.

Amity—who’s seated opposite her—has her nose deep in some kind of magazine. All Luz can tell is that it’s the Boiling Isle’s equivalent of Seventeen, if the flashy, colorful text is anything to go by. She looks really invested, and Luz doesn’t want to interrupt her, but apparently she makes some kind of indication of her distress, because in a split second Amity’s focus is all on her instead. “Having trouble?”

Luz slumps into her seat. “Yeah.”

“Here, let me see,” her friend says, putting her own reading aside to grab for the assignment. _Can’t resist this, literally!_ exclaims the title of article Amity was in the middle of, _10 love potions, GUARANTEED to capture their heart!_ “Oh, this is easy, we did this in—”

“Who did you want to ask out?” she blurts out suddenly.

Amity’s head snaps up. “What?”

“To Grom,” Luz asks again, though she could’ve easily backed out, “Who did you wanna ask out to Grom?”

“Um, you know,” she squeaks, hand hovering above the table. “Someone.”

Luz thinks for a moment. “Was it Willow?”

Another squeak. “No.”

“Mattholomule?”

She locks eyes with Luz’s very difficult homework. “No.”

“Boscha?”

She pulls a face, which is slightly relieving. “Ew, _no._ ”

“Come on, you can tell me!” she says encouragingly, “We’re friends, right?”

Amity’s face is oddly rosy. Luz wonders if she accidentally pissed her off. “Yeah, but, well—”

The door to Amity’s hideaway slams open without warning, and the witch flinches suddenly and pulls back. Luz takes the moment to realise that in her excitement, she’d managed to get all up in Amity’s space, and ended up grabbing her hands, too. She lets go and leans back, looking at the newcomers—Amity’s siblings.

“We’ll, uh, we’ll give you two a moment,” Edric says, already stepping away.

Emira pulls him back by the hood, and holds up the packed box in her other hand. “Your lunch, again, mittens. You’re _really_ forgetful lately.”

“I was in a hurry,” Amity mutters, as she walks over to snatch the box from Emira. A sugary scent wafts through the air. “Have you two never learned to knock before entering?”

“Sorry, sorry,” her older sister smiles sweetly, hiding her arms behind her back. “We didn’t realize you were here with _Luz_ , you know?”

“Yeah, well, I am,” Amity crosses her arms and stares the two of them down. Edric genuinely shudders for a second. Luz really doesn’t understand this whole sibling thing, so she assumes it’s fine. Probably. “Now get out.”

“My, so angsty.” Emira comments, at the same time as Edric says, “Okay, _warlock_.” 

Amity’s look gets even more withering. The two back off, but not before Emira whispers something in her sister’s ear that Luz doesn’t manage to catch. She gives one last wink and sidesteps a punch from Amity, who slams the door in her face and trudges back to her seat.

Her face is extremely red, but Luz can’t tell if it’s from anger or something else. “I _hate_ them.”

“What’s up?” she asks, sitting up properly again.

Amity blinks for a bit, before sighing and slumping down into the chair. “Nothing. They’re just— annoying.” She focuses back on the question on the paper, thinking to herself quietly as Luz watches. The magazine returns to her attention.

“Hey, Amity.”

Her friend looks up. “Y-yeah?”

“Sorry if I made you uncomfortable, with the, uh, ‘interrogation’ thing,” Luz chuckles awkwardly, “You know me, too curious for her own good, doesn’t know when to stop—”

“It’s fine!” Amity exclaims, “I mean, it’s not fine, because that’s kind of private— not that I’m hiding who it is from _just_ you, but, you know— like, I get it!” she babbles, “You’re my friend, and friends talk about, um, crushes, and stuff, so you didn’t do anything _wrong_ , it’s just that I really haven’t had a proper friend since, you know, Willow, so— so I don’t really know how all this works?”

Luz blinks.

“Talking for too long,” she facepalms. “What I _want_ to say is, you’re not doing anything wrong, I’m just scared— of something. I don’t know.”

“That’s okay, I get scared too sometimes! Crushes are a big deal,” Luz says. She puts a comforting hand on the witch’s. “I won’t force you to tell me, but if you ever want someone to listen or to get stellar advice from, you know who to come to.”

“Yeah,” Amity mutters, “Maybe one day.”

Luz grins, before asking one last thing. “Question, though. Were you really gonna give them a love potion?”

“Wh— _no._ Of course not, it’s just a dumb outdated magazine. I was reading it for fun. Mostly.” Amity flushes, “I’m pretty sure love potions are illegal, anyway.”

Something about Amity handing a stranger a love potion doesn’t sit right in her gut, but that last part definitely takes her attention away from that sinking feeling. “Illegal? Oh, man, you have to tell me more.”

“Later,” Amity says, sliding Luz’s homework back across the table to her. “Write this answer first, then I’ll tell you. So, the main three types of matter in Abominations actually are…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity halfheartedly hatches lines into her classroom doodle from this morning, her small lunch already eaten. Next to her, Willow is keenly listening in on Luz and Gus’ conversation on the other side of the table. There’s some talk of human culture and customs, but she isn’t paying much mind.
> 
> Five of the seven drawings are adequately colored in. She doesn’t realize how much time passes by in the activity, or just how much she’s been zoning out, until there’s a hand waving frantically in front of her face.
> 
> “ _Earth to Amity,_ ” Luz stretches out, leaning over the table to get her attention. She looks worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> struggled a bit with this, but hopefully to a good outcome? lol

_Dear diary,_

_I know I just wrote a day ago, but I have so much more to write, again. These days it feels like I have more to say than I have this entire year. Or my entire life, actually._

_I really am an idiot. At first I thought it would be a nice thing to do, you know? Help out a friend in need? One that’s helped me a lot too. But it turns out I just end up spending an hour or two fumbling around her. Twice a week._ ~~_Somehow she never notices, and I’m lucky for that._ ~~

_It’s just homework, literally. I’m a top student in Abominations! I should_ not _be having this much problem explaining simple things to her! And yet I can’t get a grip on my dumb emotions and end up blanking completely on something I learned five days ago. Maybe I need a healing spell to fix my memory, or something._

_  
_ _What should I do? I don’t want to disappear on her suddenly, that would be a jerk move. I don’t do that anymore_ ~~_I hope_ ~~ _. But it’s really getting unbearable now, I can barely talk properly in front of her._ ~~_I’m scared I’ll spill it all out._ ~~ _What if someone notices? That would be mortifying. I don’t need anymore embarrassment after Grom or after breaking my leg at the match. (I do quite enjoy being able to walk, thank you very much.)_

_“You should just tell her!” I can hear you say, and I agree. I_ should _just tell her, but it’s not that easy! There’s a whole process, one that I barely know. And I tried already, anyway. It’s clear she doesn’t see me as anything more than a friend. Which is fine._ ~~_No point in pushing towards something that won’t ever happen._ ~~ _I can stay a friend, not a problem._

_It’s a mess. I’m sighing heavily, but you can’t see that. Feelings really suck. Sometimes I wish Luz hadn’t shown up here at all, but that would be a huge lie. I’m really glad she’s in my life._

_Wish I could tell her that without feeling like I’m gonna die._ ~~_Maybe one day I’ll have the courage._ ~~

_That’s enough of my problems for tonight. See you tomorrow, I guess._

_  
_ _A._

* * *

Amity halfheartedly hatches lines into her classroom doodle from this morning, her small lunch already eaten. Next to her, Willow is keenly listening in on Luz and Gus’ conversation on the other side of the table. There’s some talk of human culture and customs—which would usually pique her interest—but right now she isn’t paying much mind.

Five of the seven drawings are adequately colored in. She doesn’t realize how much time passes by in the activity, or just how much she’s been zoning out, until there’s a hand waving frantically in front of her face.

“ _Earth to Amity_ ,” Luz stretches out, leaning over the table to get her attention. She looks worried.

Amity startles, almost falling off the bench in a mess of shock and clumsiness, only barely grabbing at the desk and righting herself. “Huh—?”

“Are you okay?” asks Willow, concerned, “You seem really out of it today.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m— yeah,” she says. Willow’s right, she has been feeling a lot more tired. Her Abominations are small and weak, and she’s only made six pages of notes so far, instead of her usual ten. “Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, sorry.”

Which is true. She’d spent most of it lying awake, writing in her diary, coming up with very specific, very unrealistic scenarios, and then cursing herself for thinking up said scenarios. Repeat that a couple dozen times—like a vicious cycle—and that’s how her night had been.

“That’s okay,” Luz pipes up again, still concerned. “I was just asking if you’re free to help me out today, but you look really tired.”

“Sorry,” Amity says again. In her head, she curses herself for missing the opportunity to spend time with Luz. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“Yeah, for sure. Don’t worry.” she replies. The bell for the next class rings, obnoxious as always, and Luz starts packing up her things to head out of the cafeteria. “Gotta run, Oracles now. See y’all later!”

Then she’s gone. Amity shuts her eyes and rubs her head. She thinks she might head to the courtyard and get some reading done before her next class, although a nap sounds just as enticing right about now. When Gus and Willow start heading to the lockers, she wordlessly follows. The entire way there, the duo excitedly chatter away about whatever Luz had been talking of at lunch. Amity kind of wishes she’d been paying more attention, now.

“Say, Amity,” Gus turns to her, as she yawns. “Do you think Luz would let me go out and conduct research in the human realm sometime?”

“Uh, dunno,” she mutters, “Didn’t she say she lost the portal?”

“ _Oh_ , right.” he pouts. “Well, you’re pretty close to her. Has she told you anything about this mystifying ‘tumbler’?”

“Yeah, they’re _super_ close.” Willow smiles, almost mischievously. “Has she?”

Amity has never heard of this ‘tumbler’, and even if she had, she doubts she’d be able to remember it under Willow’s smug yet scrutinizing gaze. She shakes her head awkwardly, feeling her cheeks heat up.

Gus deflates. “Aw, man. I wanted to leave a super secret anonymous gift for the club. Maybe they’d take me back, then.”

She doesn’t argue the fact that he got removed by Principal Bump, not the club itself. Still, the Principal seems to be in good spirits as of late, with all the changes he’s been allowing, so maybe it’s not a bad idea. Nevertheless, she stays quiet and focuses on getting her locker open.

A small note flutters out when she tickles the creature. Amity immediately prays to the Titans it’s not a prank rune from Boscha—she does _not_ have the energy to deal with her right now—and sighs in relief when it doesn’t burst into flames upon touching the ground. She picks it up gingerly, flipping it around to see whatever message it contains.

_Rest up, OK?_ says Luz’s loopy writing, _I’ll see you tomorrow!_ It’s followed by a smile and a heart that makes Amity’s own heart speed up. She doesn’t realise she’s smiling involuntarily, until she notices that she’s not the lone reader of the note.

Amity yelps as Willow giggles besides her, and she hastily shoves the note in her pocket. “Hey!”

“Sorry, got curious,” her friend backs up. “That’s so cute, though. Do you two exchange notes like this a lot?”

Maybe they would’ve, if Amity had actually given Luz that first one, all those weeks ago. She mumbles, “No.”

“Ah,” she says, “Well, you could reply to this one, get a little tradition going.”

Amity flushes at the idea, but it doesn’t sound horrible. She pulls the note back out and stares at it for a moment. “What should I even write back?”

“Oh, you know, jokes, compliments, even just a drawing,” Willow suggests, “Luz would like anything you give her, honestly.”

Her face gets impossibly more red. That’s _not_ something anyone should tell Amity so casually! What is she supposed to do with that knowledge? Is Willow messing with her? That can’t possibly be true, right? Luz just… likes gifts. Yeah, who doesn’t like gifts? Maybe it’s a human thing, or something, because what else could it be—

“Wow, that’s an impressive hue change,” Gus interrupts Amity’s train of thoughts (train _wreck_ of thoughts, rather,) with his observation, seemingly unaware of the girls’ topic of conversation. “You should get that looked at in the infirmary.”

“Yep,” Amity says, her voice definitely not cracking, “Will do.”

It’s then that his attention shifts to the actual object of interest: the bright pink paper in Amity’s hand. “Wait, is that a note?”

She hides it back in her pocket, and says nothing.

“From your locker?”

Silence. Amity looks away nervously.

“Oh, no, this is bad,” Gus frowns, turning to Willow. “You know what this means, right?”

She blinks back in confusion. “Not really?”

“It’s so clear! Someone gave Amity a love note, it’s _disastrous_ ,” he shakes Willow’s shoulders, “We cannot let Luz know, under any circumstance.”

“Uh, why not?” Amity asks, rather than correcting him about the nature of the note. Her interest has been caught. She wants to know.

“Duh! Because she so obviously likes—”

The sentence is cut off by Willow slapping her hands on his face, where it ends in gibberish and with a very, very perplexed Gus. The plant witch grabs her friend, and starts walking the both of them back. “Oh, would you look at the time! Gotta head to class, now, yep.” she chuckles, “See you tomorrow, Amity.”

“We don’t have class?” Gus points out, but gets dragged away regardless.

Amity never gets to know. She’s left behind in the hallway feeling more confused than she has her whole existence.

That’s another sleepless night ahead of her, she supposes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading !! next chapter should be the last one, i think


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilith sits at the table and silently reads over the questions. Somewhere in the house, King is commanding inanimate objects to his will, and Eda is taking a giant nap. Hooty is delightfully rolling around in the mud outside—a phenomenon she’s learned to ignore. Willow and Gus are probably at that market they said they’d be visiting. Amity is…
> 
> “I think she’s avoiding me,” she says out loud, without meaning to.
> 
> Lilith looks up. “Amity?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last chapter! thanks for sticking around, those of you that did, and i hope you'll enjoy this one :D

_Tap, tap, tap…_

Luz drums her fingers across the table, brows furrowed down as if that’s their natural state. She’s been trying to work on her very last assignment, the one that has a longer deadline, and she could do it if she _actually_ paid attention, but—

“Oh, Luz,” Lilith says, emerging from the depths of the house, donning a pitch black shirt with the phrase: _Normal witches scare me._ Luz thinks that with a little bit more of eyeshadow and hair dye, she could fit right in with the emo scene back home. “You’re home today?”

She hums distractedly, “Amity’s busy.”

“Ah,” the witch replies, “I can try to help?”

“Sure,” Luz says, passing over the paper to her. It’s not Potions work, but she _did_ know how to use all kinds of magic in her former coven, so maybe she knows.

Lilith sits at the table and silently reads over the questions. Somewhere in the house, King is commanding inanimate objects to his will, and Eda is taking a giant nap. Hooty is delightfully rolling around in the mud outside—a phenomenon she’s learned to ignore. Willow and Gus are probably at that market they said they’d be visiting. Amity is…

“I think she’s avoiding me,” she says out loud, without meaning to.

Lilith looks up. “Amity?”

“Yeah, uh,” she mutters, looking down. “This is the fourth time she cancelled on me this week. I don’t think she’s _that_ busy…”

“Wouldn’t be so sure of that, if I were you,” Lilith says, “The Blights are a busy family.”

Great, that just makes her feel worse. Of course Amity could also be _genuinely_ occupied, hard-pressed with whatever goes on in that terror mansion of hers. Still, that doesn’t explain why she’d scurried away when Luz waved at her at the school entrance, or why she’d basically swallowed her lunch in one bite and ran away minutes before the bell even rang, right when Luz had sat down with her own food.

Luz isn’t an idiot—she can tell when people are ignoring her.

“Does it bother you,” Lilith asks, “That she might be evading you?”

Her stomach turns uncomfortably. “Kind of? I just wish she’d tell me what’s going on instead of, you know, avoiding me like the plague.”

The witch tilts her head, clearly not understanding what ‘the plague’ is, but shakes it after a few seconds and speaks again, “She used to ignore you before, too. Why does it matter now?”

“That, well,” Luz stutters, “We’re friends, now.”

“If your other friends did the same thing, would you still be troubled?”

“Yeah,” she answers instinctually, then pauses to think. “Okay, maybe not _as_ much, but I still would.”

Lilith sighs. The whole atmosphere makes Luz feel as if she’s in the school counselor’s office, back home—and not in a good way. Right now, she very much wants Eda to appear out of nowhere and take her on a magical quest, or give her an errand, or _something._ This homework can be dealt with later (not through fire glyphs, definitely not), and maybe the feelings too. Just not now.

After a short moment of silence and quiet scribbling on Lilith’s end, she asks, “Do you like Amity?”

“Of course,” Luz says, “She’s my friend.”

Lilith mutters something under her breath—it might’ve been ‘dense human’, or something along those lines—and looks at Luz directly. “Let me reiterate. Do you have a crush on Amity?”

“Do I…” she starts, and trails off into thought.

She falls quiet, staring into the table. Lilith, apparently done with the question, is now practicing her spell glyphs. King, Eda, and Hooty are all taking giant naps, despite it being the middle of the day. There’s a message from Willow on her Penstagram, of her and Gus’ purchases so far. Amity is avoiding her, and the reason that bothers her so much is…

She stands up abruptly, almost frantically, and feels her world spin from both the act and the revelation. When she slams her hands on the desk to right herself, Lilith doesn’t even react.

“I have a crush on Amity,” she manages to breathe out. Her heart feels like it might just explode. All the little moments start adding up—at school, outside school, _Grom_ —and she curses herself for not realising before, when it’s been so clear this whole time. “Why didn’t anyone _tell_ me?”

The witch looks at her, exasperated, but doesn’t reply to that question. She taps one of the spells she’s drawn, and the paper scrunches into a familiar shining ball of light, that floats towards Luz and disperses as it collides with her nose.

The first spell she’d ever shown Amity all those days ago at the Covention. Their building block.

“Glad you see the light,” Lilith jokes, and Luz is too occupied with her current discovery (or dilemma, putting it more accurately) to wonder if the witch realises the layers behind that statement.

“What— what do I do?” Luz asks shakily, “I mean, I should tell her, right?”

Lilith nods sagely.

“Okay, okay,” she takes a deep breath. “Do I write like a— a note? Should I text her?”

Lilith stops nodding.

“No written words, got it. I’ll, uh— I’ll try to tell her up front, then.” Luz decides with a sudden shred of determination, before muttering, “If she ever stops avoiding me.”

It’s then in the middle of her hurried plans that she remembers that day at the library, with the whole magazine and Blight siblings mess. Amity already likes someone else. Someone who’s probably not Luz.

“ _Dios, qué lío,_ ” she sighs. Despite that knowledge, she can’t just keep carrying around her own feelings forever! Even if she does, they’ll spill out eventually, and that’ll just be embarrassing for everyone. Better to get it done and over with (and potentially get shot down, as much as that would hurt) than to let it foster for who knows how long, completely unspoken. “ _Antes hoy que mañana._ ”

The witch looks muddled at Luz’s use of words that probably sound like gibberish to her, but before she can say anything, there’s a sudden knock at the door. Luz looks over for a second, and when she turns back, Lilith is already gathering her things and heading for the stairs, leaving her assignment neatly finished on the table.

_Good luck_ , she mouths to Luz. Despite the lack of context, Luz thinks she could probably use it.

* * *

“Luz, hey,” greets Amity, who’s probably the last person she would’ve expected at the entrance. She looks slightly out of breath.

Luz blinks. “Hi! Uh, what’s up?”

“I got finished with that thing— that I was busy with,” she says, “So I thought I’d come around and help you out, finally.”

“Oh, I’m done with it already, actually.”

“Really?” Amity asks, “Was that the last of it?”

“Yeah,” Luz says, with a nervous chuckle, “I’m free, thank heavens.”

“That’s great,” she replies with a smile, taking a few steps away, “I guess I should head home. See you at school tomorrow, then—”

“Wait, Amity.” she interrupts, without caution. “Can we talk?”

The girl stops in her tracks. “Ah, sure…?”

“Sorry if I did something to make you start avoiding me,” Luz says, wringing her hands, “I don’t really know what I did, but whatever it was, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no, _no_ , it’s not you! It’s just—” Amity sighs heavily, covering her face for a moment. “I really _was_ busy, but then Gus said something that kinda freaked me out, and I started doing— _that_. But it’s nothing you said or did, I promise.”

That brings a bit of relief, but raises another question of what Gus could’ve said to Amity to start this whole deal in the first place. That’s for her to ask later, maybe.

“One last thing,” Luz says, at the same time as Amity speaks again, “Um, another thing—”

Both of them stop speaking, staring at each other for a few seconds, before giggling lightly.

“You first,” Luz offers.

Amity returns, “Oh, no, you can go first.”

“Aw, come on,” she says. It’ll go nowhere if they keep it up. It’s now or never. “Okay, let’s both say what we want at once.”

Amity nods. With a _3, 2, 1,_ both speak their minds.

“I really like you!” Luz blurts out, while Amity bows and requests, “Please go out with me!”

* * *

The scene isn’t all too clear from Eda’s bedroom window, but she can see enough for her to _know_ that it’s finally happening. This moment—complete with all the hand-holding and teenage blushing—makes her giddier than anything else. _It’s finally happening!_

A cough behind her alerts her that she’s not alone. Her sister walks in, standing next to her just besides the window. After a few seconds, she sighs and mumbles, “I helped.”

“Oh, you _wonderful_ witch, you,” Eda says, eyes lighting up with delight, “You’re a local hero, Lily, I swear.”

Lilith rolls her eyes, but has a small smile despite the ridiculousness of it all. She has to say, it really is sweet, like something straight out of a fairy tale from their childhood. Her sister always used to make faces while they read together, but Lilith often saw her looking at the bright page with awe when she thought she was alone. “I didn’t take you for the cheesy type, Edalyn.”

“What can I say?” Eda grins, looking down at the two girls at the beginning of their own story. “Having a kid just does that to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Dios, qué lío_ \- God, what a mess  
>  _Antes hoy que mañana_ \- Better sooner than later  
> the spanish is (unfortunately) taken from what i could find online. if a native speaker would like to correct it on the high possibility that it's wrong, please go ahead!!
> 
> anyways, thank you all for reading to the end and leaving nice comments!! they make me very happy  
> y'all can find me on [instagram](http://instagram.com/cubedmango), [tumblr](http://cubedmango.tumblr.com), and [twitter](http://twitter.com/cubedmango). currently, i'm cooking up an infinity train AU for TOH, which i may or may not write for eventually, so stay tuned for that, if you want :D


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